Tweaks

So, I'm trying some new things on the site. For one, I've signed up for last.fm, which is an interesting service. You can download a plugin for iTunes [and other audio players] that records what you're listening to & then makes recommendations based on what you listen to most often. Kind of how Amazon builds 'The Page You Made' and other recommendations. You can also tag tracks, a la Fickr, and create lists based on those tags.

The other part of this equation is an audio player that you can download. It will make playlists [or 'radio stations'] based on recommendations, tags, or whatever you select. Heck, on their front page, there's a box where you type in a band you like, and it will make recommendations from that. Also notable on the front page is a list of what you get when you sign up. My favorite is at the bottom, "A Pony."

When you're listening to the player, you can tag tracks as ones you love, and you can skip/ban tracks you hate. This is a way to keep track of new music that you don't know, but want to keep an eye on. I'm going to have to file this under my other post on discovering new music. You could also do better to read Pitchfork's more recent article on this subject. There's also the article on Kottke's site that also helped put last.fm on my radar.

It also has some feeds that I've been messing with today, trying to get them to work. Over on your right, I'm featuring the last 10 tracks that I listened to in iTunes. To get it to fit, I've changed the design of the site slightly. I've taken my photo off, but I didn't really need that anyway. I should do one better and update my online albums here, or on my flickr account. The image only updates every five minutes, so it's not going to change while you're reading this. But, if you come back in a couple of hours, and I've been listening to music, then you'll get something else.

I'm always interested in discovering new music, and letting other people know what I'm currently enjoying. Any of my friends will tell you that I'm usually pushing something. During Burgers for MS, Max said that I'd turned him on to his last three albums. I like that.